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How Nature Confuses Me

My garden is doing fairly well, I would say. I wish some things were bigger (there are supposed to be some carrots in the waaaay back), and some things are certainly bigger than I expected (note the 3u1/2 foot tall peas in the foreground), but all in all, I think I've learned the best way to care for a garden is not to care for it. Excluding weeding and the occasional nudge to a pea plant towards a twine support, it seems like things grow the most when you don't bother them at all.

Then there's just weird stuff that happens. Sometimes plants won't grow for a few weeks at a time before experiencing growth spurts. Okay, this happens frequently. Sometimes they complain of too much water for weeks and then... when I still don't water them... keep complaining. Some plants that are supposed to require 8 hours of sunlight grow better in the shade than their comrades in a greenhouse.

Oh, and my personal favorite: "I'm going to grow from underneath the seed, so everything gets jammed inside and doesn't get any sunlight. And then I'm going to die."

All in all, nature is weird. That's the moral here. Fun, rewarding, and occasionally delicious... but weird.

Trap Snack

After a clementine and apple let us down, a georgia peach finally wooed the groundhog into the trap! We did it! It's all about the choice of trap snack, obviously.

"Peaches," as we now call her, is safely on the north side of the river. Hopefully she has reunited with Mr. Garden Thief but, eitherway, she won't be snacking on my produce any longer.



Now, how long until a new one moves in?

Garden wars

Last year, the produce from my garden was savored every single day. Tomatoes, just about to turn a vibrant red, were plucked from the vine and devoured whole. The chard and kale produced tender leaves for snacking. No cooking or seasoning needed; these veggies were consumed right in the back yard under the warm sun.

There was only one problem. I wasn't the one eating my veggies. The neighborhood groundhog thought my garden was his all-you-can-eat buffet, and he didn't leave much for me!

When we decided to garden again this year, I knew something had to be done. We got a trap and baited it with some pear... to our surprise, it caught Mr. Garden Thief the very first day! He was relocated to the north side of the river, and my little plants grew in peace.

That was, until this week. Prime real estate doesn't go uninhabited for long. A new groundhog has moved in, and my collard greens, sunflowers, and tomato plants are all being snacked on again.

We have set the trap again, but this one seems to know the drill. Plums and slices of orange were ignored. Today, we bought apples, so we'll find out soon if that was appealing or not. Maybe pears have a special place in little groundhog hearts?

Either way, my garden will be defended. But I don't have a dog, you can't use firearms in city limits, and our plastic owl don't even scare the birds.

...any ideas???

The Great Book Sort

I had one full book self in my room and six file boxes of books in the attic. My mom has told me again and again to get them out and, needing something to do on a rainy afternoon, I decided to tackle the project.

I have spent two nights on my floor surrounded by piles - sorting, reading, and treasure hunting - and am happy to report that I have exactly 250 books (not counting several old lab manuals and physics text books). Of these I will donate or sell at least 143 and I will definitely keep 37. And the remaining 70... I will spend the next several days with them trying to make up my mind.

In my adventure through the book pile, I found several treasures! I have...

- a flattened tangle of string,

- several book marks,

- two and a half boarding passes,

- a copied passage from a Midsummer Nights Dream (not found in said book),

- a silly printed out quiz about sex,

- a silly printed out quiz about religion,

- 3 doodles (and many more on the pages of books),

- a packing slip,

- two Polaroids of windmills,

- a black and white photo I took of myself,

- two goofy pictures of Laura and I after we put a face on her boat,

- a 2007 ticket stub from the Sears Tower Skydeck (where I am pretty sure I have never been),

- an awkward picture of Sam Begich and I going to our first high school dance,

- a packing slip,

- a really silly journal entry from 1999 about my big crush on Tom Rodda,

- a Peanut's cartoon,

- and a post card with a badly drawn volcano that says, "Don't touch the volcano -it's hot."

My conclusion, after 2 days of this... I am in love with my books and find it heart breaking to get rid of them. I love how they smell, how they feel in my hands, and how the older ones that I've read over and over feel so familiar. But, hopefully this will give some other people the opportunity to read some great books and give my books a chance to get some real love instead of being loved from afar as they sit in a box.

Now to tackle the maybe stacks!